Win or lose, Lakers attracting viewers

Behind closed doors, ESPN executives Sunday afternoon will be rooting for the L.A. Lakers to win Game 7 of their series against the Houston Rockets. The reason is simple: ESPN, and its corporate partner ABC, have the rights to the entire Western Conference finals series over the next two weeks.

ESPN’s telecast of Lakers-Rockets Game 6 Thursday night was the network’s most-viewed basketball telecast ever. The rating of 5.4 represents 5.3 million household impressions and 7.4 million viewers. And it wasn’t Houston that drove viewers to their TV sets.

The previous record audience was 5 million households and 6.6 million viewers for Heat-Pistons Game 6 in the 2006 Eastern Conference finals.